


Counting Every Day (Until You Get Back To Me)

by marvel_middleearth



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Michelle Jones Needs a Hug, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Sad, Sad with a Happy Ending, Supportive May Parker (Spider-Man)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 00:19:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18712666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvel_middleearth/pseuds/marvel_middleearth
Summary: For the first week after Peter goes missing, Michelle calls him every day.She doesn't want to accept that he's gone. And while she knows he won't pick up, that she won't hear his voice on the other end of the line, she still calls him. And she always leaves a message.Because if there's a chance, any chance at all, that Peter Parker is still alive, Michelle is going to believe in it.MJ survived the snap, and now she has to deal with the aftereffects of living in a world without Peter Parker in it.





	Counting Every Day (Until You Get Back To Me)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi
> 
> This is just a short little one-shot of MJ's perspective of the snap. I know it probably isn't gonna be movie-compliant, as it's highly likely MJ faded in the snap too, but for the sake of the story I'm going to pretend she didn't.  
> It contains minor Endgame spoilers. You have been warned.  
> If anyone needs to scream about Endgame in the comments, please, please do. I'm honestly so broken after watching it. 
> 
> Anyone else feel the same way?

**Monday, April 23, 2018**

**9:27 AM**

_ “’Sup, loser. It’s MJ. Where are you? One minute you were on the bus to MOMA and the next you were gone. Ned made up some dumb excuse about you getting off the bus before me and going to the bathroom? I don’t believe him. So, where’d you go? There’s some really weird stuff going on right now. We saw this massive spaceship from the bus window – you saw that too, right? Just hurry up and get back here, loser. Mr Harrington’s going to freak if he finds out he’s lost another student on a school trip.” _

***

**Monday, April 23, 2018**

**3:12 PM**

_ “Peter? It’s MJ – I mean, duh, surely you can see my caller ID. Anyway, I don’t know what’s going on with you. You went missing when we got to MOMA and Ned had to convince Mr Harrington you went home sick without telling him. You can guess how well that went down. _

_ “But seriously. Where are you? Ned’s starting to freak out. He’s called you like a million times and you haven’t picked up. Just press the green button, it’s not that hard.” _

***

**Tuesday, April 24, 2018**

**2:46 PM**

_ “Um, hey. Peter. It’s MJ. So, umm, things have kinda been hard lately. And messed up. I don’t really know how to put this. I…damn, this is hard to say. My parents kinda…turned into dust. Umm, yesterday, I think. So I’m staying with Ned. For a while. And I’m worried. About you. Cause we haven’t heard anything from you for days. And Ned has no idea where you are, and he keeps freaking out on me. So please, please, pick up your phone. I…I’m worried about you, loser. Answer my calls. Just let me know you’re okay.” _

***

**Wednesday, April 25, 2018**

**5:34 PM**

_ “Peter? Please pick up the phone. Answer me. Or if you won’t answer me, at least answer Ned. Or your aunt. She’s so worried about you.” _

***

**Thursday, April 26, 2018**

**10:52 AM**

_ “Hey. I know…I know this is kinda pointless. Cause…well, Stark told your aunt, and your aunt told Mrs Leeds, and yesterday Mrs Leeds told me and Ned so…now we all know. That you’re not here. That you turned to dust like my parents did. And, umm, I guess I’m kinda having a hard time accepting it. I… _

(She sighs.)

_ “I know this is pointless. I feel kinda stupid right now, sitting on the front step of Ned’s house, talking to myself. It’s so empty in New York now. I just… _

_ “I miss you, loser. Get back here soon, okay?” _

***

For the first week after Peter goes missing, Michelle calls him every day.

She tells everyone she’s calling her grandmother when she goes out to sit on the front step and stare at the empty streets, to press on his name on the cracked screen of her phone, to hear her own disappointed exhale when he doesn’t pick up, again and again and again. When she comes back inside half an hour later, Ned always asks if she’s okay. It’s hard at first, to lie to his face, to give him a weak smile and pretend everything’s fine, and she can tell he knows she’s lying. Lying about not missing her parents, lying about not being scared for Peter, scared because he could be  _ anywhere  _ and they have no idea where he went or why.  _ It’s okay to cry. No one can be fine after losing their parents,  _ Ned says the day after they disappear, as she sobs into his shoulder.  _ Not even the undefeatable Michelle Jones. _

It’s a Wednesday, the day May knocks at the Leeds’ door. It’s a Wednesday, two days since Peter went missing. It’s a Wednesday, the day Mrs Leeds opens the front door and Michelle can hear May’s sobs even from where she is sitting, on the edge of her bed in the spare room down the hall.

Michelle calls Peter that afternoon. She knows he won’t pick up, and it hurts. It hurts to hear the dial tone ring and ring and ring, and then the cheerful sound of Peter’s voice as the automatic message plays.  _ “Hey, it’s Peter! Leave a message!” _

So she leaves one. Another one, to add to the three she already left on Monday and Tuesday. Those were asking where he was. Now she knows.

He’s gone.

But Michelle still calls him, every day for the first week after he goes missing.  _ Maybe,  _ she thinks deep in her heart, deep in her mind,  _ maybe he’ll come back. Maybe he’ll pick up. _

He doesn’t.

***

After a week, Mrs Leeds tries to keep the two of them busy, to “take their mind off it”, as she says. Michelle relents. She’s spent the last week utterly miserable, drowning in her own grief. She could do with a change.

Her voicemails get less frequent after that, until she’s only calling once a week. But she doesn’t forget about him. A quarter of one of the pages of her sketchbook, filled with drawings of Ned and Peter and of the New York skyline, is now filled with tallies. One for every day Peter is missing.

She’s going to keep a record of it.

A tally for every day Peter’s missing.

A tally every day, until he gets back.

***

Her calls have dwindled to once a month.

Her tallies have taken over half of the page.

***

**Friday, August 10, 2018**

**7:15 AM**

_ “Happy sixteenth, Peter. _

_ “I wish you were here for it.” _

***

**Tuesday, April 23, 2019**

**9:27 AM**

_ “Hey, Peter. It’s MJ. As usual. _

_ “So, it’s been a year since you went missing. 365 days. 8760 hours. 525600 minutes. However you want to say it. _

_ “Things have changed a lot since you’ve been gone. New York’s pretty deserted. You wouldn’t believe it. You’d probably hate it. You told me once that one of your favourite things about New York was all the people. Now, half of them are gone, and the other half barely leave their houses. _

_ “Your aunt came over yesterday. She’s doing okay. She still has her job, she still lives in your apartment in Queens. Apparently she’s been keeping your room clean, just in case. That’s what everyone said after you guys went missing: ‘just in case’. Most people have forgotten about that by now. But not your aunt. She misses you a lot, you know. She says she thinks about you every day.” _

Michelle leans her head back against the wooden front door, staring up at the sky, her phone pressed to her ear. The sky is a clear, pale blue, but the air is still cold, and Michelle’s breath makes little white clouds every time she exhales. A faint breeze blows a curl of dark hair across her face.

_ “I don’t know what it meant, all those people turning into dust. All the news reports say it’s something to do with Thanos, this creepy purple guy who tried to invade that African nation – what’s it called again? – Wakanda. There was a news report a few weeks ago where Captain America said we should start moving on. Accepting that you guys aren’t coming back. Going on with our normal lives. _

_ “I don’t think it’s that simple. When half the world disappears in a single afternoon, you’re not going to forget about it that easily. I'm not going to forget about  _ you  _ that easily.” _

Michelle pauses, watching a lone sparrow flit across the rooftops. “I miss you, Peter,” she says eventually.

***

**Saturday, August 10, 2019**

**9:31 AM**

_ “Happy seventeenth, Peter. _

_ “Told you I wouldn't forget about you.” _

***

Sooner than Michelle thought possible, it's senior prom night.

Ned and Michelle go together.  _ “As friends,”  _ Ned insists awkwardly.

He knows she'd always secretly wanted to go with Peter.

May goes shopping with her to help her pick out a dress. It's awkward, at first: Michelle tries to insist May doesn't need to bother, Michelle can find one herself, May doesn't need to waste time for her, but May waves her protests aside. “I  _ want  _ to do this,” she smiles. “I've always wanted a daughter, you know.”

Michelle isn't sure how many dresses she tries on that day. All she know is that she ends up wearing a sleek silver dress with thin straps, covered in sequins that sparkle like thousands of tiny stars, May beaming with delight. “You look so beautiful,” she says fondly, and there are tears in her eyes.

Prom night starts off alright. Michelle’s almost enjoying herself. She particularly enjoys the stunned look on Ned’s face when she steps into the living room, her dress glittering silver as it catches the light, her hair curled into perfect dark ringlets, diamond earrings - borrowed from May - sparkling at her ears.

“You look amazing,” he breathes, and flushes when Michelle raises an eyebrow at him.

“Let's go, dork,” she says, and gives him a quick smile.

The prom itself isn't as bad as Michelle thought it would be. She socialises, for once, talking to a few of her classmates, who seem surprised that she can go for more than five minutes without saying something sarcastic (Michelle’s tempted, but she restrains herself for one night). The night is saddened slightly with the news that Liz Allen, who promised three years ago she'd return for senior prom, has vanished, another victim of the Decimation.

At midnight Michelle finds herself sitting alone on the front steps of the prom venue, the hem of her dress pooling like liquid silver around her feet. The prom continues inside, muffled music drifting out to Michelle’s ears. She pulls her phone from her purse and dials the number she's called so many times.

“Hey, Peter,” she says quietly. “It's senior prom night. Wish you were here.” She smiles into the darkness. “May lent me her diamond earrings, to match my dress. It's silver. May said you would have liked it.”

She pauses, gazing out into the darkness, city lights on the horizon, stars glinting faintly in the sky above. “I wish you could be here to see all this,” she admits. “I think you would have liked it. Almost everyone's here, and Ned didn't wear his embarrassing hat for once, and Flash is actually sort of bearable tonight.”

Michelle lets out a long sigh. “It's probably stupid, to still be calling you. I mean, you've been missing for two years. I don't even know why I still call you. Old habits die hard, I guess.”

She hears someone open the door behind her and whispers, “Bye.” Nonchalantly, she lowers her phone and glances behind her.

It's Ned. He offers her his hand. “Wanna go home?”

She takes it and he pulls her to her feet. “Thanks for a great night,” she says, trying to act casual but putting as much meaning as she can into the words. She appreciates everything Ned and his mom do for her so,  _ so  _ much.

Ned squeezes her hand in reply, a sad smile on his face.

Peter’s on both of their minds tonight.

***

_ “So, uhh, hey. I haven't called in a while. Like, a long while. Since last year, actually. And it's already April. I've been busy. Uni is pretty chaotic, plus I've been trying to earn as much as I can, so I don't have to be a burden on the Leeds. They always say they don't mind, but they've been stuck with me for five years. They're probably sick of me by now.” _

Five years worth of messages to Peter. Five years of sitting on the front step with her phone pressed to her ear.

Michelle’s older now. She's twenty, she's in university, she's working part-time and saving to buy her own apartment. She's been a burden on Ned and his mom for too long.

She's changed, but still recognisable. Her dark hair is as curly as ever, her smirk as sarcastic as always. She's clearly older, more defined, slim and beautiful. She can see the pride in May’s eyes every time they make eye contact.

May's become like a mother to Michelle over the years. She’s helped Michelle through thick and thin, supported her when she needed a shoulder to lean on, and been a much-needed constant in her life. Michelle only wishes there was more she could do to give back to her.

“I wonder what you'd think of me now,” Michelle says, and smiles to herself. “I wonder what you'd be doing right now. What you'd say. Whether you'd be sitting here next to me.” She falls silent, then adds, “I think about that a lot.”

It's spring again, April 25. Two days and five years ago, Peter had vanished into the wind with the other half of the universe.

Michelle watches a soft breeze stir the trees, and a smile curves across her face. “I miss you, Peter,” she says into the phone, one last time.

Then she hangs up.

***

Michelle sits on the front step for a little while longer, enjoying the kiss of a rare spring sun on her face. She's about to leave when her phone vibrates. Again and again and again, like someone's calling her.

She glances down and her heart stops.

**_Incoming call from Peter Parker._ **

Michelle forgets to breathe for a second. She picks up the phone, her hands shaking, and swipes the screen to answer the call.

“H-hello?”

_ “MJ?”  _ The voice is slightly muffled, but Michelle would recognise it anywhere, and she sits on the front step with tears in her eyes and a smile broadening on her face.

Because for the first time in five years, Peter Parker answered the phone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading <3


End file.
